Architecture - 3 sites in Les Arcs have been awarded the label of "Architecture of the 20th Century": the sites of Arc 1600/1800, the town hall and cinema in Bourg St Maurice and the Aiguille Rouge cable car station - overview here
Bourg St Maurice - "la montagne dans la ville", gateway to Les Arcs
Cycling - Les Arcs was the scene of Indurain's downfall; La Plagne of historic performances by Roche, Fignon and Boogerd
Domaine Skiable - here is the 2010/11 plan des pistes; the Les Arcs website has been a bit slack and hasn't put up the new 2011/12 one up yet - and there are a few changes, for example in the Mont Blanc area above Arc 1600
Edenarc - you can buy your new flat here and look back at what might have been, with Charlotte Perriand's original design here
Funiculaire - "unique in France", with a new makeover. Timetable here
Golf des Arcs - a beautiful site, 32 holes, open from June until les premieres neiges
 |
| Arc 1800 runs to resort, on the golf course |
Hauteville Gondon - home village of Robert Blanc, founder of Les Arcs
Infos practiques - on the Les Arcs website
Jeux Olympiques - the speed skiing was at Les Arcs, and saw a tragedy on the morning of the event
Killy - as in Espace Killy - about 40 mins up the road from Bourg
League Tables - Alpe d'Huez beats all the Tarentaise resorts, and is a brilliant all-rounder, summer as well as winter - see rankings here
Manchester United - cf Val d'Isere. France's best ski resorts are matched with their Premiership equivalents here
News - @ledauphine gives comprehensive coverage and will improve your French
Off-piste - there is a Bureau des Guides at 1800, and Arc Aventures also have specialists. Here's a book for the armchair expert, in French but with some English summaries. It's available in resort
 |
| Aiguille Rouge summit: 3220m |
Quecha - the low-cost Decathlon range. The shop in Albertville (just off the RN90) is very good and sells ski de fond, ski rando equipment etc, which can be hard to find in the resorts
Rosiere - as in La Rosiere - distinctly under-rated - my favourite (apart from Les Arcs, of course). Great views in both directions towards both La Plagne and Tignes, as well as the link with La Thuile to explore
 |
| La Rosiere: looking up the valley towards Tignes |
Tignes - just up the road. Park at Les Brevieres
U - as in Super-U on the Route des Arcs at the edge of Bourg St Maurice
Valmorel - a resort on the up, with a new Club Med, new lifts, and handier for the airport than the Haute Tarentaise - quick review here
Websites - official Les Arcs site is more style than substance, but others compensate
X-ray - main cabinet medical is close to the Cachette lift in Arc 1600. Will cost you several hundred pounds to be taken down the mountain by a hunky pisteur
Y - La Grotte du Yeti appears to be a chain of bars - with branches in Arc 1800, Les 2 alpes, St Francois Longchamp etc
Z - As in Zinedine Zidane - the France football team often train at Tignes, for example before their ill-fated trip to South Africa....
No comments:
Post a Comment